Samba Spurs: Is Andre Villas-Boas Right About Brazil's Strength in Numbers?

At the rate Tottenham’s transfer rumor mill is whirling around, you could be forgiven for thinking that Under Armour will release a third kit colored primarily in yellow, blue and green.

Spurs have been linked with no fewer than four Brazil players this window, a rather staggering number that speaks to Andre Villas-Boas’ enjoyment of his time at Porto.

With a sense of urgency that was forced upon them by PSG sniffing around AVB, Tottenham’s hierarchy has, as far as the back pages are concerned, looked to lock in players and keep the blue and red clad wolves at bay.

Paulinho would seem to be the first of the seleção to make a move by the Daily Mail's reckoning, with Bernard, Doria and longstanding flirter Leandro Damiao also mooted to make moves.

Before breaking out the Carnival gear, though, why are Spurs raiding Brazil vigorously?

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It certainly does not hurt the South American cavalcade that AVB made excellent use of a whole host of them while at Porto.

Seven of the starters and five players on the bench were from the southern hemisphere, with six of them coming from Brazil.

Among the South Americans included Colombians FredyGuarin—another Mail-mentioned Spurs target—RadamelFalcao and James Rodriguez, Uruguayan Alvaro Pereira and Brazilians Fernando, Helton and Hulk.

Clearly, AVB had quality in his squad.

AVB also was at the club when they signed Rodriguez, Nicolas Otamendi, Walter and JoaoMoutinho, a heavy duty list of talent.

At Chelsea, AVB was around long enough to snap up promising players like Thibaut Courtois, RomeluLukaku and maybe most importantly Juan Mata.

While the Blues did not make too many inroads into South America at that moment, it lent some credence to the idea that AVB has an eye for players that will make an impact.

While that is all well in good, are these the kind of players to take Tottenham back to the promised land of Champions League football?

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Damiao would be an easy yes answer at the forward position, though it might be argued that cutout of Gareth Bale had more striking prowess than Emmanuel Adebayor did last term.

Doria would be a project player as he is only 18.

Paulinho might solve the riddle of the passer that AVB is in desperate need of to make the midfield tick while also being well adept at defensive duties.

Bernard would seem to be a luxury item but might be the little magician Tottenham could use to unlock stubborn defenses at White Hart Lane, something that hounded the club throughout the 2012-2013 campaign.